#armchair activism

[focaccia-nose]

My "bare minimum" is different.

Goy wear watermelon pins. They boycott starbucks for 3 months. They post shoddily made infographics to their stories. They call for "global intifada" and fill Hamas' pockets with money.

And that is the bare minimum.

I must prove that I'm not a genocidal monster.

I must bear witness to the hate speech that slips so easily from the lips of the ones I love.

I must be called a kike in the streets; A zio-nazi on the bus.

I must resist centering myself.

I must defend my humanity until my dying breath.

And when I finally die, they'll still ask if I was a Zionist.

[mxactivist]

Support the BBC for having a trans character in recent episodes of 'Doctor Who'

Apparently the BBC (UK) has had 144 complaints about a recent episode of Doctor Who because it contained an openly trans character.

I've made a complaint to the BBC that there weren't enough transgender characters in Doctor Who. I would love if 144 other people did the same thing. Here's the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints/make-a-complaint/#/Complaint

(For your easy reference: "The Star Beast" aired on 25/11/2023 on BBC One, and the trans character is called Rose.)

Please note that the complaint form asks for your UK postcode, so only UK folks can join in with this - but if you suspect you might have any UK-based followers, maybe give us a reblog to boost the signal?

Edit: I'm told that you can fill in the form even if you're outside of the UK, because the BBC provide service to many countries other than the UK, including the USA! Go for it. :D

Reply to confirm that you've done it, so I can keep a count!

Here's my complaint:

I recommend:

Avoid sarcasm or irony. Assume your post will be taken literally. If you are clearly joking or being mean you will be ignored or misunderstood.

Include some gratitude/appreciation. It's pretty great that they included a trans woman in a positive way, and they should know that they have explicit support for that.

~

Edit again: I'm seeing some concerns in the replies/reblogs that the BBC might not distinguish between "less trans people, please" complaints and "more trans people, please" complaints. Rest assured, this is nothing to worry about - the BBC publish fortnightly complaint reports, and they do pay enough attention to know when a complaint is in favour of or against trans inclusion. In fact, their 20 November – 3 December 2023 report is where the various news articles are getting the 144 complaints figure; that report says there were precisely 144 complaints that they have categorised as "Anti-male / inappropriate inclusion of transgender character".

That means the next complaints fortnight window is 4 December - 17 December. We have 8 more days to beat 144. By my count, over Tumblr, WhatsApp, the Fediverse and Telegram, we have 85 so far, which is well over halfway there.

Also, when you've done it, please reply to confirm you have done it, so that I can count us!

Thank you, everyone!

~

Edit, 2023-12-11, 1am UK time:

We did it! I've just been counting up responses, and it looks like sometime yesterday evening we hit 144 complaints/comments in favour of Rose Noble and more excellent trans characters in Doctor Who! (We're actually up to 157 now, fantastic.)

So, my next plan is to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the BBC sometime in the next few days, asking for complaints and compliments figures. Then I'd ideally (energy and time permitting) like to put together a press release that I can send out to the publications that promoted the tiny "144 anti-trans complaints" figure, showing them that there has been far more feedback in favour of trans representation than against.

I'll keep you posted.

[cassolotl]

UK petition: Recognise nonbinary people's genders in law and in identity documents

It's that time again. There was no active UK parliament petition about nonbinary identities being recognised in law, so I made one.

The UK government has repeatedly acknowledged the existence of nonbinary people, but it has repeatedly refused to grant recognition in law and systems. Nonbinary genders should be recognised on: - Passports - GRCs - Marriage documents - Death certificates

[ Sign here ]

Deadline: 11 October 2024

Signatures: 54 of 100,000

See a graph: here

Who can sign:

Anyone living in the UK, regardless of citizenship

Anyone with UK citizenship, living anywhere in the world

No one else! Don't fake your postcode or whatever, it'll invalidate the petition

[butchgtow]

Introduction to Armchair Activism

Fundamentals

"Yes, Everyone on the Internet Is a Loser." Luke Smith. Sep 3, 2022. YouTube.

An activist movement can be a place to build community with like-minded people, but action is its foremost purpose, not community. To allow yourself and other activists to remain effective, you are obliged to abandon your personal dislikes of other individual activists. Disagreements are worth discussion, but interpersonal toxicity is not.

Connect with in-person community and do not unhealthily over-prioritize online community. Over-prioritization of online community is self-harm.

Luke is a loser, but his channel is teeming with entry-level digital literacy information and advice pertaining to healthy use of technology for us cyborgs.

"Surveillance Self-Defense: Tips, Tools and How-Tos For Safer Online Communication." Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Hackblossom, outdated, is discontinued. The EFF project Surveillance Self-Defense is up-to-date, comprehensive, and follows personal educational principles of simplicity and concision.

To learn more about general (not focused solely on personal action) cybersecurity, visit Cybersecurity by Codecademy and Cyber Security Tutorial by W3Schools. Both contain further segueways into other important digital literacies.

Direct recommendation: Install and set up the linux distribution Tails on a cheap flash drive.

Direct recommendation: Develop your own home network security schema.

Direct recommendation: Always enable 2FA security for Tumblr, disable active / inactive status sharing, and learn to queue reblogs and posts to protect against others' interpretations of your time zone.

Direct recommendation: It's both possible and relatively simple to host your own instance of a search engine using SearXNG.

Zero-Knowledge Architecture.

As a remote activist (even if also a hybrid activist), none of your action should be taken on, using, or interfacing with non-zero-knowledge-architecture services. Tumblr is, of course, a risk in and of itself, but you should not be using services provided by companies such as Google, Microsoft, or any others based in or with servers hosted in 13-eyes agreement nations.

Search for services (email, word processor, cloud storage) which emphasize zero-knowledge architecture. Businesses whose services are structured as such cannot hand over your data and information, as they cannot access it in the first place. If they cannot access the majority of your metadata, either - all the better.

Communications for Armchair Activism

"Technical Writing." Google.

Contained within the linked page at Google Developers, the self-paced, online, pre-class material for courses Technical Writing One, Technical Writing Two, and Tech Writing for Accessibility teach activists to communicate technical concepts in plain English.

"Plain Language." U.S. General Services Administration.

Plain language is strictly defined by U.S. government agencies, which are required to communicate in it for simplicity and quick, thorough comprehension of information.

"Explore Business Law." Study.com.

Extensive courses are offered to quickly uptake principles of business law such as antitrust law, contract law, financial legislation, copyright law, etc. Legal literacy is often the difference between unethical action of a business and its inaction. Legal literacy is also often the difference between consideration and investment in your policy idea and lack thereof.

"Business Communication." Study.com.

Now that you're able to communicate your prioritized information, you may also initiate writing with bells and whistles. While other activists care most about the information itself, business communication allows you to communicate your ideas and needs to those who you must convince worthiness of investment to and win over.

Logic.

Learn it through and through. Start with fallacies if you're better at language and work your way backwards to discrete mathematics; start with discrete mathematics if you're better at maths and work your way forwards to fallacies, critical literacy, and media literacy. State that which you intend to state. Recognize empiricism and rationalism for what they are. Congratulations: you are both a mathematician and a law student.

Economic Literacy for Armchair Activism

"Microeconomics." Khan Academy.

"Macroeconomics." Khan Academy.

The globe operates on profitability. Women's unpaid labor is a massive slice of the profitability pie. While it's possible to enact change without understanding all that drives the events around you, it's impossible to direct or meaningfully manipulate the events around you beyond your scope of comprehension.

Understand economics or be a sheep to every movement you're active in and to every storm that rolls your way.

[whatcanidoforpalestine]

Government of Canadian Petitions for Palestine

e-4745 Arms Embargo. Open until February 19 2024

e-4731 Emergency Travel and Permanent Residence for Palestinian Family Members in Canada. Open until January 14 2024

These are official petitions that have to be reviewed by the government of Canada after a certain number of signatures.

Canadian citizens and residents can sign.

[transgendermilesprower]

most normal response to rejection

[dennisboobs]

bruh

[aliencatwafers]

This is downright unethical

Normally I don’t make posts about this (but I reblog quite a bit). I’m sure everyone knows about the occupation of Palestine and Israel bombing Gaza. I’ve heard people blame Hamas for causing the mess and taking the hostages. I don’t know enough context to say more about Hamas’ role. But it’s wrong that the Israel response was to destroy all of Palestine and put civilians at risk. It fits in with Israel’s history of colonization and how much support Israel has worldwide. I hope the bombing stops and the government of Israel is held accountable for their actions as well as media for not exploring the problem in a wider scope.

With that being said, I found this article and I am disgusted with how Palestinian lives are discarded and exploited. Countries have been at war for thousands of years, but this is an extra level of horror, disrespect, and harm to harvest marginalized peoples’ bodies for their organs without permission or even telling said families. I would consider this an act of genocide as it shows Palestinian bodies aren’t considered worthy of respect and calls for the systematic murder of their culture. The Palestinian people deserve far better and to be treated like humans.

[mxactivist]

UK petition: Sandyford Clinic [Scotland] to immediately continue to prescribe trans kids hormone blockers

[ Sign here ]

Following the Cass Review, trans kids are no longer able to receive puberty blocker prescriptions from Sandyford, Scotland's only gender identity clinic for under 18s. This is devastating news for trans kids who will now see their bodies change in ways that will trigger dysphoria. It will ultimately cost lives as trans kids are driven to suicide. All this will happen because of some despicable, manufactured "trans debate", where trans kids, and adults, are being used as a scapegoat for society's problems. Trans charities and advocate groups are condemning the awful Cass Review all over the country. The only groups celebrating this dreadful document are anti-trans ones. Hormone blockers have been used for decades safely, and the vast majority of trans kids that go on to transition are happy. A common argument against blockers is that trans kids are not old enough to make such decisions. This is exactly what puberty blockers are for; to hit the pause button on any irreversible changes; to give trans kids time to make these decisions. We urge Sandyford clinic to immediately resume providing trans kids with their life-saving puberty blockers.

[ Sign here ]

[cassolotl]

UK petition: Commit to not amending the Equality Act's definition of sex

[ Click here to sign! ]

It has been reported that the Government may amend the Equality Act to "make it clear that sex means biological sex rather than gender." The Government has previously committed to not remove legal protections for trans people, an already marginalised group, but this change would do so.

Currently, the Act protects trans people from discrimination on the basis of both sex and “gender reassignment”, regardless of whether they have undergone medical transition or hold a Gender Recognition Certificate. It can allow trans people to access single-sex spaces such as DV shelters, bathrooms and hospital wards.

The proposed change would remove a legal protection for trans people and encourage discrimination. We ask the Government to refuse this change to the Equality Act 2010.

As a result of the UK showing its institutional transphobia and stoking the already overblown moral panic, this official parliament petition has gone from 13,000 signatures to over 90,000 signatures in 2.5 days. It's currently increasing by over one signature per second.

You can sign if you live in the UK regardless of citizenship, and if you're a UK citizen regardless of where you live. The deadline is 15th May 2023, which is just over a month from the day I'm posting this.

Please sign if you are in the UK, please reblog if you think you might have followers who live in the UK.

Thank you!

The graph is from this petition tracker.

[ Click here to sign! ]

[morphogenetic]

i don't know how to fully articulate this but I really fucking despise the recent phenomenon of people reading something (e.g. an AITA story) about a real person who has a very strong interest in one specific thing and, just from that, going "oh that person is autistic." drives me BONKERS. like first of all adhd (by itself) presents the same way a lot. secondly ALL YOU KNOW ABOUT THEM is that they like a specific thing a lot and that's not even an ND thing by itself.

you don't know if the person has literally Any Other Sign of being autistic but you saw that oh they like one thing a lot and went AUTISM instead of the way more fucking reasonable "yeah they happen to have an uncommonly strong interest in [thing], which means they Could be some flavor of ND but they could also just be NT and like a thing a lot like a normal person"

[mosspapi]

Man. Seeing ai generated "fanart" for a book series I rlly like that absolutely does not have enough fanart is. An experience.

[shivasdarknight]

Putting this over here to isolate this point: the OTW Volunteers did a lot of work to get AO3 back up and running after the DDoS. The OTW Board didn't do shit.

Your donations to AO3 go into OTW's financial reserve, and an estimate of how much they have is around $2.5 million (thread that breaks this down). They can maintain the platform for five years with what they have stored, and that number may be a low estimate.

OTW doesn't need your money. OTW's volunteers deserve financial compensation for all they've been subjected to, but none will see a penny from your donations.

Support the volunteers all you like, but know that your donations do nothing for them nor improve their working conditions.

Also stop being islamophobic assholes, the people who did this called themselves Sudanese just to get this kind of response. Grow up, learn to spot a troll, and go educate yourselves instead of constantly spewing racist shit.

[a-typical]

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappé (2006)

[imaginariumgeographica]

Love when my day is interrupted for like 20-30 minutes where i just can't see its fun